Ethics Commission leadership shakeup grows

The chairman of Palm Beach County’s Ethics Commission is stepping down, adding to the recent leadership shakeup on the watchdog board that has faced increased criticism this year.

Chairman Manuel Farach, one of the original members of the Ethics Commission, submitted a resignation letter Monday saying that he would leave the five-member board in September.

Farach was appointed in 2010 and became chairman a year ago. In his letter, Farach wrote that he is stepping aside “so that others from the community may have the opportunity to serve.”

“I do not believe that any commissioner should serve indefinitely,” Farach, an attorney, wrote in his resignation letter.

While Farach had said publicly that he didn’t intend to stay on the commission much longer, the recent departure of former board member Ron Harbison came as a surprise.

Harbison resigned via a June 27 email after the attorney in a case going before the Ethics Commission raised concerns that Harbison had donated to a Senate campaign while serving on the commission, the commission’s new Executive Director Steve Cullen said. Ethics commissioners are not supposed to participate in political campaigns.

The Ethics Commission also this year had to fill its executive director post after the board’s former top employee, Al Johnson, left to take a job with the State Attorney’s Office.

The Ethics Commission is a five-member, volunteer board appointed by entities outside county government.

Harbison, an accountant, was appointed by the president of the Palm Beach County chapter of the Florida Institute of CPAs. Farach was appointed by the presidents of three local Florida Bar Associations.

The changes on the Ethics Commission come as the board has faced criticism about its makeup as well as its operations.

Concerns about lack of black representation on the Ethics Commission this year prompted an effort by County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor to expand the Ethics Commission. Taylor suggested that a larger commission would provide more opportunity for diversity among board members, but an advisory board objected to changing the rules to expand the board.

Also this year, the Florida Legislature’s auditing agency launched an inquiry into the county’s Ethics Commission.

The state review, prompted by concerns raised by state Sen. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, targets the EthicsCommission’s spending and operations.

Ethics commissioners have said they welcome public scrutiny of their operations but question why the Legislature is conducting a review of a county agency that has only five employees and a $500,000 annual budget.

A series of government corruption scandals that started in 2006 prompted reform measures that included creation of a county ethics code and the formation of an Ethics Commission.

The ethics code targets conflicts of interest and other wrongdoing for public officials, government employees and those who do business with local government.

The EthicsCommission hears cases of suspected ethics code violations, offers advisory opinions about potential violations and leads ethics training for those subject to the code.

Punishments for ethics code violations can range from reprimands to prosecution by the State Attorney's Office as a first degree misdemeanor, with maximum penalties of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.